Articles Posted in Legal Self-help Community

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Visit the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) Justice Case Files website to read this hilarious coloring-book story:

Justice Case File 4: The Case of the Broken Controller is a (PDF) narrative coloring book available to download for free. (Note: the PDF at the NCSC site is almost 8 MB. It can be optimized to under 4 MB if you have Adobe.)

“The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) launched a public awareness campaign several years ago to educate the public about how the courts work. The central effort of this campaign was to develop a series of graphic novels, called Justice Case Files, which engage the reader while giving insight into how judges make decisions, how the courts protect the public, and why courts are so important to a democratic society….”

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Law in the News alerts us to this article at Plagiarism Today:

“Update on the Potential Copyright Small Claims Court,” February 28, 2013, by Jonathan Bailey

The author has done an excellent job summarizing the problem and proposed solutions and linking to other sources of information.

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Before paying for legal forms online (or from a book), check to make sure they are forms the court will accept and to find out if your county or state already makes the correct forms available free of charge.

It’s not unusual to find “cheap,” “low-cost,” and “free, if …” legal forms online that judges and public law librarians know are available totally free AND are up-to-date, AND are official (that is, they will be accepted by the court where they need to be filed).

It’s also not unusual to hear about legal papers drawn up and filing fees paid, only to have the case dismissed or delayed because the wrong forms were filed or local court instructions weren’t followed.

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From Richard Zorza’s Access to Justice blog:

California Bar Explores Joining Movement for Non-Lawyer Practice

California, Washington, and New York are featured in this article on the movement to allow people who cannot afford attorneys “to receive low-cost guidance in simpler legal matters by qualified non-lawyers.”

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One day you will need or thank the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), just as we need or thank the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

If you want to know more about the CFPB, one of the blogs listed at the 6th Annual ABA Blawg 100 site is the CFPB Monitor. It tracks the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

You can also visit the official CFPB website and read CFPB’s official blog.

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Thinking about legal self help, access to justice, unbundled legal services?

Richard Zorza’s Access to Justice Blog has all kinds of intriguing posts and links, e.g.

1) “Lawyer Referral Services Are the Key Gateway to Unbundled Services and California Leads the Way,” 10/16/12.

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Intriguing recommendation that might come out of the OSB HOD meeting on November 2, 2012:

Resolution 13

“Resolved, The House of Delegates recommends that the Board of Governors study the feasibility of making a metropolitan court district combining the resources of Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties to increase access to justice and make an appropriate recommendation to the Oregon Legislature, the Oregon Judicial Department and the Chief Justice.”

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Not everyone in Oregon (or elsewhere in the country) is lucky enough to have easy access to a local public law library with trained law library staff members (e.g. Washington County Law Library) (Not everyone has easy access to a public library either, for that matter.)

Public library reference librarians and paraprofessional staff members are invited to tune in to one or more of these Access to Justice webinars, from the Pro Bono Network:

Libraries and Access to Justice Webinar Series.

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1) Idaho: “Idaho County to Hire Lawyer to Assist Pro Se Litigants,” Aug 13, 2012, by Molly McDonough. ABA Journal News.

Link to Idaho Press Tribune story: “Idaho county to hire lawyer to help ‘pro se’ cases“

2) Massachusetts: Yale Law Journal article (June 2012): “Randomized Evaluation in Legal Assistance: What Difference Does Representation (Offer and Actual Use) Make?“ by D. James Greiner and Cassandra Wolos Pattanayak

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I was visiting the ever-enlightening FGI blog (Free Government Information) and came across a blog post about this treasure: State Agency Databases Across the Fifty States

You can link directly to the State Agency Databases Across the Fifty States and if you do, make sure to click on the Oregon link, which was set up by the very talented Oregon librarian, Liz Paulus.

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